We could talk ourselves blue in the face about the importance of becoming integrated with Google Transit, not to mention other buzz sites like YouTube and Facebook (one need only look one post below…). To put it simply, they’re extremely popular and entirely free, so why not use them? When news broke about registered Google users being able to shift the location of arrows on Google Maps to better reflect their true destinations, we realized a lingering, untouched method for involving riders more in transit promotion.
The new Google Maps feature, which is a wiki-influenced update, puts the task of providing very accurate, very local data in the hands of the user. After all, who knows where their house is better than the people who actually live there? Again, it reiterates the point that letting users (transit or otherwise) access and manipulate available information is often the best method for boosting customer satisfaction and cutting down on your communications workload.
What if, for instance, transit users could add attractions – restaurants, venues, museums – to each rail stop on an open source map? We’ve discussed agencies coupling stop information with local neighborhood information, but not the other way around. To fill this need, we can perhaps look to another brilliant social network – Flagr (www.flagr.com).
The name really says it all: users simply flag locations (on Google Maps, no less) of their favorite places around the world. Simply enter the address and type up a review. Since it is completely free to use and a very popular application with young adults, transit agencies could easily mark all their rail and bus stops, letting users see exactly what kind of cool activities can be reached by public transit. What’s more, say a rider gets off the train and spots a great new bar – he or she can take out his or her cell phone and flag the location instantly via text message. Agencies, for their part, can embed the maps on their website to provide a visual cue for visitors.
Flagr is another (rather inspired) example of how agencies can leverage youthful interest into a powerful tool for promoting transit.
One response
Do you want to comment?
Comments RSS and TrackBack Identifier URI ?
Trackbacks